Into Oblivion
by Nienna Helyanwe 3
Summary: Lilani Reed would do anything her father asked of her. So when he asked her to marry a Cardassian (Elim Garak) man to gain a strong alliance for their small rebel faction, she may object, but there is nothing she wouldn't do for her father.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, this is my first fic and should get better the further along it goes (I knew how I wanted it to be, I just didn't know how to start it) :P So please rate, any advice would be much appreciated. Rated M for mature content further along the lines ^o^**

**The first chapter will be a bit short, but again, should get better XD**

**I own nothing but my OC's.**

The sinister sound of scissors snipping away was music to Elim Garak's ears. Of course, that sound would only become sinister in the wrong pair of hands, and only if the wrong pair of ears were listening. Which was why Garak was so content in his solitude. It's not that he preferred to be alone, it's just that being a Cardassian, in these strange times, the empty confines of your own quarters were usually the safer option. He sighed, and stopped cutting strips of fabric. He would never admit it - but how he missed her...

* * *

*Several years prior on a small Human Rebel outpost near Cardassia Prime*

"Father, I don't want to marry! I do not know this man, and I am too young anyway!" A 16 year old girl pleaded with the leader of the rebels.

"Lilani I am sorry. But you know that this isn't up for discussion." A tall, fearsome looking man with bags under his eyes grumbled.

Lilani sent her father (Rhaegar Reed) a pleading look, but he just turned away. "Am I really just an item to you? That can be sold whenever you wish?! Sometimes I wonder if you actually love me at all!" She stormed out of the room, leaving her father to wonder whether this was the right decision.

"Sir. We are receiving a sub space transmission from Enabran Tain." A young recruit informed his captain, before leaving Rhaegar alone in the room. The transmission came on the screen, and a humanoid man, with grey skin, some scales around his face and neck and black - combed back hair greeted him with an unaffectionate smile.

"Rhaegar! Are the preparations in place for you to wed your daughter to my protégé?" Tain exclaimed.

"I have... But she is not at all happy." He spoke in a stoical manor. "Are you sure this is necessary?"

"Must I convince you every time we talk? If this union does not happen, we will have no proof that we are allies. You must understand that many of my people do not trust humans, because of your Federation. But with this alliance, we will greatly be able to benefit each other, both on the battlefield, and in future hardships to come." Tain explained.

"That is very true Mr Tain. I thank you for being so understanding, and look forward to finally seeing you in person at the wedding. Rhaegar out." He sighed... This was going to be a long day.

Rhaegar exited his study, and went to check on his daughter. He peered through her door and saw that all of her things were packed and ready to go. He would so desperately miss her. Despite how much she did not want to marry this man, she would do it anyway, because he asked her to. She always was a good girl...


	2. Chapter 2

**I know it is short again, but at least it is longer than last time :P It may seem a little fast-paced at first, but things will start slowing down just after this...**

It was already the day of the wedding. Lilani, her father and a few people close to them in their group were on Cardassia, just hours from the wedding. Lilani's hair was golden and went mid way down her back in curly tresses. She braided some of it back so that it wouldn't cover her eyes. But Cardassian women were grey, had black hair and scales. She would not fit in very well, and she hoped that her appearance would at least not repulse her husband to be. She wore a dazzlingly white dress. It highlighted her curves, had lace at the top, and was embroidered with subtle, flowery patterns. It had been her mothers. Lilani cast a vale over her face, because it was requested of her and because it would hide the sorrow that would be evident on her face - making empty promises and vows at her fathers leisure.

She looked in the mirror one last time and sighed. She heard a knock at the door, and slowly made her way to answer it. As she opened the door, she was greeted by the all to familiar thinning grey hair, and slightly sweaty face of her father. He was a little taller than herself, so he had to lean down to give her a kiss on the cheek, as he took he arm, ready to lead her up the aisle.

She had never met this, Garak, before. She had no clue what he looked like, what his personality was like, or even what his job was! All she knew, was that he was the protégé of Enabran Tain - a valued member of something called, the Obsidian Order.

Lilani could feel her heart rate increase with every step they took towards the church doors. She felt like it could burst out of her chest at any moment. She thought that was a very obvious term to express this level of nervousness, but no other words could quite cover it. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, they stopped outside the doors to the church.

"Sweetheart I love you." Rhaegar looked to her pitifully.

"I know father..." She looked up at him. "I love you to." She managed in a voice, just above a whisper as the doors to the church swung open.

They started their ascent towards the alter and she felt a hundred pairs of eyes burning through her skin and into her soul. She was so glad that she had the veil to cover her face and hide her fear. She looked dead ahead and could see who she was meant to be marrying. Well, she could see the back of his head anyway. He was fairly tall, clad in his dress uniform, with short black hair. He looked like a generic Cardassian to her - from behind at least. As she passed the last of the guests and stood beside her, he finally turned to look at her. There was no love in his eyes, there was no fear either. He seemed to keep all of his emotions locked away and to be honest, that frightened her a little bit. She was worried when he did not look at her until the last second, but now knowing that she has absolutely no idea what was running through his mind... she became overwhelmed with uncomfortable feelings and felt a little bit queasy. But kept herself in check, for she knew that this needed to be done. There was no way her father would have asked this of her if not. She knew that.

The Cardassian version of a Minister gave off the Cardassian version of a wedding service, she said what was asked of her to say, and so did this Garak.

"You may now kiss the bride." The Minister recited.

All of the nagging feelings about going through with this ceremony were screaming at her to turn around and run. This was the moment she had been dreading the most. She felt sick. She felt worse than sick, she felt like she was going to pass out.

Garak pulled the veil painfully slowly up over her head, finally revealing her face to himself and the rest of the congregation. He looked down, into her eyes and then leant in, and she quickly shut her eyes, yearning for this to be over soon. To her surprise, Garak pressed his lips tenderly to her cheek, and swiftly pulled away.

She barely heard the minister say, "I know pronounce you man and wife." as they walked together, arms linked down the aisle towards where her new home would be. She shot one last pained look towards her father, before they were entering a small runabout that would lead them to their final destination.

* * *

Garak had been prepared for a human bride. He would do anything Tain asked of him - including marrying some human woman. But did she have to be so... different? She was so unlike Cardassian women. Out of all human women, his had to be a tall, tanned, blonde woman. Could Tain not at least chosen him a dark haired, darker skinned bride instead? At least there would have been some similarities to his own kind!

Now, Garak was no racist. But when it came to women, he refereed they stay Cardassian. For he could never let sentiment get in the way of his one true love - Cardassia.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, sorry the last chapter wasn't very long either but I was too tired to continue. The flow of the story should be more evenly paced now, which I hope will make it a lot better :P**

**Thank you Prizm for reviewing, it means a lot to know what people honestly think :)**

* * *

The ride "home" wasn't exactly what she would call a pleasant one. She kept her eyes focused on the view screen - as did Garak. Neither of them spoke a word for the entire duration of the voyage. She summarised that he too, was being forced into this arrangement. For that's what it was, an arrangement - not a marriage.

She sighed and thought to herself that she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. She noticed Garak looking at her out of the very corner of his eye. She turned to face him and his eyes quickly moved back to the view screen. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she realised she had no idea what she was meant to say in a situation like this. She did this a few more times before giving up and sighing yet again.

"My dear, if that was your impression of a fish, it was a very good one." Garak finally looked towards her with a serious expression on his face. Lilani's eyes grew wide with shock and her face flushed pink, as the first words to be said for the entire voyage, was him making fun of her. His expression softened into an almost condescending smile.

"I am sorry. This is all a bit new to me. I haven't met many Cardassians before so I do not know the proper formalities." She tried, but he looked at her with that same smile and she felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment.

She looked back to the view screen and Garak offered her little comfort in the clipped tone of voice he used to say, "Here we are, your new house."

* * *

Upon arriving at the house, Lilani was greeted by Garak's household maid, Mila. She took Lilani's bags inside of the house and sat her at the kitchen counter with some Tarkalean tea. Lilani was very pleased to see the effort that the housekeeper had put into making her feel at home, by supplying her favourite relaxing beverage and offering a warm smile. Mila was an older woman, fairly small and had white hair - though she looked like she could take care of herself. She asked Lilani many questions about how she came to grow up in a rebels base.

"My mother was killed by bandits when I was very young. Though there is no need to feel sorry for me because I was too young to really remember her. My father however, took it really hard. Especially when Starfleet refused to inform us on any details of the killing. This prompted him to take the law into his own hands, so many other people from all across the quadrant became acquainted with him, by these special meetings he held for people who had been in the same situations. After a few years, this grew into an organisation large enough to colonise a small moon and we started fending for ourselves, with our own rules. It was heaven..." Lilani smiled, "Until some people started speaking up about violent protests, and soon we started doing anything to ally ourselves with other races-" Lilani clasped her hand over her mouth. "Mila, please. I am sorry. I didn't mean that this arrangement was purely for that purpose-"

"Of course it is child." Mila laughed, " Do you think that we are doing it for some noble purpose? It is for the same reasons as any strategist would be proud of. Now - you have had a long day, I think it is time that you get some rest. Good night child."

"Good night." Lilani got up from the table and walked out of the room, but not before poking her head back through the door and smiling, "Mila? Thank you." Lilani closed the door and walked up the stairs towards their bedroom.

Hold on. 'Their' bedroom? Oh no, with everything going on, this thought had not even crossed her mind. It's not like she was entirely pure, she had, had encounters with two other lovers before. But that had deeper and meaningful emotions tied in with it. This was one of the things she could never bring herself to do. But also something she would have to do. For she had to be a good wife, which meant doing what would be obligated of her to do.

She knocked on the door... No answer. She entered the room, only to find it abandoned. She released a breath she did not realise she was holding and went to her bag to bring out a picture of her and her father to put on the dresser. It was one of her only treasured personal effects. But even that could be replaced...

She changed into her nightgown (nothing special) and was just about ready to climb into bed when she heard someone knock at her door. She dusted herself off and addressed the person to come in.

It was Garak. He just stood and looked at her while she tried her best to stop her hands fidgeting out of nervousness. Here came the moment that would break her. The last straw to her finally losing her mind.

She couldn't take the silence any longer, "Mr Garak I-"

"Please, just plain simple Garak will do. I do not think that there are need for such formalities any longer..." Garak strode forward and lifted her chin very delicately with his hand, so that their eyes would meet. "I am sorry." He lifted her hand up to his lips, and placed a chaste kiss on the back of her hand. "I will be down the hall if you require anything."

And with that he left her room, leaving her stood there, rather confused and rather relieved.

* * *

Garak strode into his room and swiftly made his way to the transmitter. He switched it on and Enabran Tain's face appeared on the screen.

"Ahh Elim. Settling in with your new wife?" Enabran Tain smiled.

"She is a child Enabran. She is 16 years old!" Garak barked.

"And you are 22 Elim. There is not that much time between you and it is well within legal guidelines. Is she not pretty enough for you?" Tain was just teasing him now...

"She looks... fine, but she is not a Cardassian. I love Cardassia and-" Garak tried.

"And you would do anything for Cardassia? Anything I ask of you? Cardassia thanks you for your sacrifices Elim, you should have a long and successful career in the Obsidian Order." Tain ended the transmission.

'Looks fine' Garak thought... She certainly did not look Cardassian. She was a tanned human colour, she had rosy, prominent cheek bones. Her hair looked soft and golden like the sun, but her eyes were something else. It was her eyes that caught Garak's attention. They were a shimmering blue, the colour of the deepest ocean on a sunny day.

Garak stopped this train of thought. So she had nice eyes, many people do. She was still a pink, fleshy human. Lilani was not at all like the beautiful, dark, cunning Cardassian women he was used to. With scales running along their neck (that were one of the most erogenous places on a Cardassians body). He would have controlled a Cardassian woman and kept her in line, for there was no room for sentiment in his life. To him, sentiment was a weakness.

So maybe in a way, it was a good think that he had been married to a human - something he could never favour, over a Cardassian woman. Yet, she may be harder to keep in line and harder to control. He would have think of a way to deal with this predicament... but what?

Garak grew tired of battling with himself, and decided to leave the matter to rest until morning. He went to sleep picturing those blue eyes, and wondering how to tame the fire inside of them.


End file.
